"Artz Tour de France 2015"

Artz Tour de France – 2015

A second art trip to France is in the making! In 2010, ten artists went to France to paint for 15 days.

You can read all about the adventure in the blog:

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/sugarbaker/1/tpod.html

Many artists have asked for a 2^nd trip to include spouses. So this trip will be open to single artists and couples.

 Here are the Basic Facts!

• Room for 10 people (either singles or couples)
• Dates – first two weeks in June, to be locked in with air fares
• 1^st Week Paris – painting and visiting sites: the Louvre, Musee d'Orsay(impressionists), the Eiffel Tower, Boat Trip on the Seine, day trip to Monet's garden and more!
• 2^nd Week Gueret – staying in the guest house of our personal friends, painting rural France and experiencing the culture first hand. Gueret is near Limoge in central France.
• Tour Organizers and Guides – Steve and Jerie Artz, bi-lingual, residents of France for 14 years, lovers of France, the people and the culture
• Paint and Photograph as much as you want – no official art instruction, but mutual painting, sharing and critiques along the way.
• Cost – depending on air fare and hotel fee in Paris, between $3,000 and $3,800 per person(the travel agent says the air fare is fluctuating! We'll work to get the best rates possible). The hotel is reserving 5 rooms for us that will need to be locked in as soon as we have 10 people signed up. The cost will include, round trip air fare Chicago/Paris, train fare from Paris to Gueret, hotel in Paris, Museum Pass, Boat trip on the Siene, excursion to Giverny, Monet's garden, food in Gueret (we cook for ourselves, had a great time last time!), van rental in Gueret, organization and guide. Does not include souvenir $ or food in Paris.
• If you are interested, call or e-mail and you will be sent full information. As soon as we have 10 people signed up, plans will be finalized. E-mail: artzjerie@gmail.com, phone (765)838-8359 It was the trip of a lifetime in 2010 – it's going to be again! Jerie

Catching up on Posts!

The lack of posts does not represent a lack of painting!  Along with painting for myself, I have enjoyed teaching watercolors to my students this fall in the series "Painting a Hearty Harvest."  It seems like fall is exploding around me and my inner rhythm still has some summer paintings pulsing inside.  Since I love finding inspiration in the kaleidoscope  beauty of God's creation, which is ever changing, I'll put my brush to paper and capture what is calling to my heart, in season or out of season!


Painting demos for my students for this current series of classes often identified as "autumn" subjects:  grapes, pumpkins, squash and luscious apples.  Tomorrow is the last class in this series and we will be painting one of my favorite subjects - autumn leaves. Demonstrating for my classes keeps me learning.

Grapes and Wine

Celebration

Harvest Time

Concentration!  This is supposed to be fun!

Fall Fiesta!

Apples, apples, and more apples

lumpy bumpy!

In September I had the privilege to "garden sit" for a friend who has created an amazingly beautiful garden.  These are some of the paintings from that experience.  I loved her little sign "giggle."  I had fun carrying it around the garden and taking photos of it with different plants.  I think God wants us to enjoy His creation and even giggle!  These were whimsical fun!

This lily was my attempt to capture the setting sun shining through the blossom like a stain glass window.  Light electrifies all it touches and I'm trying catch some of that in early morning, late afternoon photos and paintings.

The Odyssey of a Painting

My mom painted a series of Michigan State University ivy covered buildings over 25 years ago.  Recently, MSU tracked her down through an art gallery showing that was on the internet over five years ago in the St. Louis area.  Here is the rest of the story!
Recently my mom, Arvilla Friar, was contacted by Michigan State University about a watercolor painting she did of the original entomology building. It was purchased by Gordon Guyer, the then department chairperson. He became president of MSU from 1992 - 1993. MSU recently completed the remodeling of their conference room in the Department of Entomology. The conference room is being named after Gordon Guyer. As part of the dedication ceremony, Gordon Guyer has graciously loaned the university the beautiful picture of the Entomology Building at Michigan State University that was painted by Arvilla. They contacted mom to get permission to reproduce 10 copies of the painting to give to each speaker at the dedication event and to invite mom to attend the event scheduled on November 2, 2014. She gladly gave them permission to make reproductions, but won't be traveling to the event. I'm so proud of my mom! Here is a photo of the painting she did so many years ago. Arvilla painted several other MSU ivy covered historical buildings that have been
purchased. Congratulations mom!

Fall Classes - Painting a Hearty Harvest

Students are asking when the fall classes will begin and what will be the subjects we'll paint.
I've just put together the registration flyer for "Painting a Hearty Harvest" that will begin September 29th.  Here is a snip it photo of the registration form that will soon be available as a download.  Until those crisp fall days are upon us - enjoy the beauties of summer and all the glory that God will be putting on display!

Church in the Rain!

Sunday our church had it annual worship service in the park.  I was invited to paint plein air while the families enjoyed the event.  It rained, it poured...not conditions for painting "plein air" with water colors!  A pretty sizable group weathered the rain to enjoy a shortened worship service and picnic.  Judi Horner took this amazing photo of the scene and when I saw it, I wanted to paint it.  Here is Judi's photo along with my interpretation of the rainy event.  Those that went were blessed!

There is Sunshine in my Soul Today!

Oh those delightful sunflowers!  I've painted them in watercolor, on a textured board for the backsplash in my kitchen and now on silk.  I've had silk paints that I brought back from France 20 years ago.  Yesterday I got the box out of the garage that held all of the silk painting supplies.  I read my French tutorial booklet and watched videos on YouTube and then launched into the project.  It's not perfect - but I'm happy with how it is turning out.  I also want to continue painting on silk - it is such fun!

New Life

This spring a pair of mating cardinals built their nest just outside our living room window in a lilac bush.  We had the amazing experience of having a literal window on the world of the miracle of nesting, hatching and flying away.  I normally fall into a pattern of painting the seasons.  This year, 2014 - 2015, I've decided to be intentional about mindfully living and painting the wonders of God's creation through summer, fall, winter and spring.  Next May I will have an exhibit at the Tippecanoe Arts Federation that will reflect this journey.  This little baby bird will be the "flagship" spring painting.  "From among the branches, the birds send forth their song of praise!"  

"Shattered"

This painting is something very different from what I normally paint.  It was
 actually inspired from a reading from "A Blossom in the Desert", Lilias Trotter: based on 2 Cor 4:7, "we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." Lilias quote (which she wrote about 100 years ago!) "We may know that we are but earthen pitchers, like Gideon's, with nothing of our own but the light within, and yet we may not have passed through the shattering that sheds the light forth." the word "shattering" really stood out to me...

Beauty from brokeness, God's light shine best through the darkness.

Summer Travel Journal Watercolor Classes

I just finished the flyer for my summer classes - painting travel journals plein air.  With so many traveling over the summer, there are six classes offered and students can choose to attend four of the six.  There is nothing like painting outdoors and capturing the essence of places visited.

Breath of Spring

The Breath of Spring classes finished today.  It was a learning experience to paint on regular watercolor paper, Twin Rocker handmade paper, Yupo and Aquaboard.  The students came up with some lovely fresh spring flowers.  These are the four paintings I did as demos.

Breath of Spring classes have begun!

The first of four "Breath of Spring" classes begin this past Monday.  I've never had to scrounge to find spring blooms so much in my life!  After forcing several plants that I bought, we did have some hyacinths and a daffodil blossom.  Now that warm weather is here we should have study material for the rest of the classes.
This is the beginning of my first class demo - to be finished by Monday!

Breath of Spring

It's time to leave snow paintings behind and let the promise of spring inspire florals. Four classes are planned for April - the details are on the form.  We'll not only be painting spring flowers, we'll be experimenting with different surfaces, clayboard, yupo and Twin Rocker handmade paper.

Painting Winter Snow Classes

We've managed to stretch the four week painting winter snow classes to six weeks because of....SNOW!  If any inspiration was needed, it's been all around us.  One of the students said that painting snow was helping her see it with different eyes and even cope with the winter we've had.  We've painted snow on trees, a red building with bright blue sky, sunset or sunrise landscape and tomorrow I'll be teaching how to paint "white on white."  Learning that snow is not just plain white has been a big part of these classes as well as noticing shadows.  As much as I love snow, I'll be ready to move on to the next season for the next set of classes!

Good Morning Moon!

Good morn-ing bright star

Good morning wan-ing bright moon

Good morn-ing dear God.

I woke up early on one of our recent frosty mornings to see a marvelous site.  The crescent moon, the morning star, and a street light glowing orange on a house as the sun was just beginning to rise. The image made me think of an Edward Hopper painting and I wanted to try capturing it in watercolor.

Snowed in? Paint it!

While it's snowing outside, it's a great time to paint snow scenes inside!  I have many snow scene photos I've taken to use as inspiration.  So while it's cozy inside, it's fun to paint scenes that look cold.  I'm also working on a snow pastel painting from the class I'm taking.

Painting swatches of color to experiment with snow shadow colors

Watercolor "Selfie!"

It's quite a popular thing to take a "selfie" with your cell phone.  Well, I just finished a self portrait in watercolor, and I am NOT a portrait painter!  This was painted from a photo taken last summer while I was enjoying a personal plein air paint out in the community garden at Friendship House, where mom lives.  She was sitting on the ground watching as I painted.  I loved the photo and decided I could paint us from behind!  It will be in an exhibit this summer of self portraits.

Super Bowl - Super Paint Out Pots

The Super Bowl is history, but for those who came to paint Sunday afternoon, they will have something to show for their afternoon.  The lesson was painting terra cotta pots and plants. Several students brought their own pots and plants to go with the beautiful red and green croton leafy plant.  Some of these are still in progress, but the purity and transparency of the use of watercolors is evident.

Sunflowers and more Sunflowers!

My sunflower period continues.  I love painting them, so I will surely be painting them again.  I just completed a commission of sunflowers that are nearly a full sheet of watercolor paper.  Making it long and narrow was perfect for these tall stalked blossoms.

Tissue Paper Tree Technique

Just a glimpse of the Fall 2013 workshop - the ladies loved doing this painting!https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B83TrigNc4_QbEdSRHdGUWdjdU0/edit?usp=drive_web